Sense organs
Sense organs
Classification of Receptors
Classification of receptors by Stimulus:
Sensory receptors are primarily classified by the type of stimulus that generates
a response in the receptor. Broadly sensory receptors respond to one of the
four primary stimuli:
1. Chemicals - chemoreceptors
2. Temperature - thermoreceptors
3. Pressure - mechanoreceptors
4. Light – photoreceptors
These receptors perform countless functions in our body. During vision, rod &
cone photoreceptors respond to light intensity and color.
During hearing, mechanoreceptors in hair cells of the inner ear detect
vibrations conducted from the eardrum.
During taste, sensory neurons in our taste buds detect chemical qualities of our
foods including sweetness, bitterness, sourness, saltiness etc.
During smell, olfactory receptors recognise molecular features of odors. During
touch, mechanoreceptors in the skin and other tissues respond to variations in
the pressure.
Major receptor types of vertebrates and their functions:
Types of Receptors Names Stimulus
1) Chemical receptors: Olfactory cells Smell
Taste buds Taste
Free nerve Pain,
endings temperature
Meissner’s Touch & pressure
corpuscles
Cutaneou
s Merkel’s disks Touch & pressure
receptors
Pacinian Touch & pressure
corpuscles
2) Mechanical, Ruffini endings Touch & pressure
temperature Eimer’s organs Touch & pressure
and electrical
receptors: Sinus hairs Touch & pressure
Tendon and joint Tension
Proprio- receptors
receptors
Muscle spindles Degree & rate of
contraction
Hair cells Vibration &
Lateral gravity
line, ear
& Ampullary organ Electric fields
electro- cells
receptors: Tuberous organ Electric fields
cells
Rod & cone cells Visible
Classification by encapsulation
3) Photoreceptors and of nerve endings: electromagnetic
specialized radiation
"SIMPLE"thermoreceptors:
RECEPTORS (nerve endings in tissues)
Pit organ cells Infrared
-Unencapsulated receptors - free nerve
electromagnetic
endings radiation
(mechanoreceptors, thermoreceptors, nociceptors) – in skin,
joints, viscera and oral cavity.
-Encapsulated receptors - tissue-associated nerve endings
Pacinian corpuscles – in deep dermis, hypodermis, viscera, joint capsules.
Meissner’s corpuscles – in dermal papillae near epidermis.
“COMPLEX” RECEPTORS (special senses)
Olfactory, Taste, Labyrinth (equilibrium/balance, hearing), Eye
Olfactory receptors in vertebrate
Olfactory receptors (ORs), also known as odorant receptors, are expressed in
the cell membranes of olfactory receptor neurons and are responsible for the
detection of odorants which give rise to the sense of smell.
Location: In vertebrates, the olfactory receptors are located in both the cilia and
synapses of the olfactory sensory neurons and in the epithelium of the human
airway.
Mechanism:
Rather than binding specific ligands, olfactory receptors display affinity for a
range of odor molecules, and conversely a single odorant molecule may bind to
a number of olfactory receptors with varying affinities, which depend on
physiochemical properties of molecules like their molecular volumes.
Once the odorant has bound to the odor receptor, the receptor undergoes
structural changes and it binds and activates the olfactory type G protein on
the inside of ) ion channels which allow calcium and sodium ions to enter into
the cell,
depolarizing the olfactory receptor neuron and beginning an action potential
which carries the information to the brain.
Fig: 1
Fig: 2
F1: Anatomy of the nasal passage with different parts and olfactory neurons.
F2: Molecular pathway of olfaction in the cilia through GPCR.
Auditory receptors in
vertebrate
In vertebrates, the number of auditory neurons always increases from the
periphery (cochlea) to the centre (auditory cortex), by as much as four orders of
magnitude.
Location and structure:
Sensory receptors of hearing are hair cells and associated organ is Organ of
Corti present on basilar membrane of cochlea. Colchlea is a coiled structure. It
is a bony tube on the outside, and a membranar tube is there on the inside.
There is perilymph inside bony labyrinth and endolymph within membranar
labyrinth. Perilymphatic space within bony labyrinth is divided in two parallel
canals: scala vestibule (SV) and scala tympani (ST), due to presence of
endolymphatic canal scala media (SM) (also called cochlear duct). SV and ST are
connected at the tip of cochlear coil by a connecting passage named
helicotrema. SV and SM are separated by Reissner’s membrane while ST and
SM are separated by Basilar membrane. Organ of Corti is located on basilar
membrane and it is immersed in endolymph of SM (Fig 1 and 2). The vibrations
are transferred from SV to ST via helicotrema.
Fig 1: Outline anatomy of ear with different parts.
Fig 2: Section of cochlea showing different chambers.
Fig 3: Detailed structure of sensory part of cochlea showing hair cells (see mirror image of box
portion of Fig 2).
Mechanism:
The inner ear consists of the cochlea, which is a spiral-shaped, fluid-filled tube
. It is divided lengthwise by the organ of Corti, which is the main organ of
mechanical to neural transduction.
Inside the organ of Corti is the basilar membrane, a structure that vibrates
when waves from the middle ear propagate through the cochlear fluid –
endolymph.
The basilar membrane is tonotopic, so that each frequency has a characteristic
place of resonance along it.
Characteristic frequencies are high at the basal entrance to the cochlea, and low
at the apex. Basilar membrane motion causes depolarization of the hair cells,
specialized auditory receptors located within the organ of Corti
. While the hair cells do not produce action potentials themselves, they release
neurotransmitter at synapses with the fibers of the auditory nerve, which does
produce action potentials.
In this way, the patterns of oscillations on the basilar membrane are converted
to spatiotemporal patterns of firings which transmit information about the
sound to the brainstem.